1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUUK. 



ly in vogue. For the last two or three years I have 

 been experimenting- somewhat in this direction 

 with results that so far are quite satisfaetoi-y to 

 myself, both iu the results attained aud the labor 

 involved. It is a well-known fact, that bees depos- 

 it tlieir surplus most largely above tlie brood, and 

 the natural reason for tliis is at once appai-ent. It 

 is a well-]jnown fact, too, that store combs are al- 

 ways (when room is given) built deeper than those 

 used for brood, and equally true that brood is not 

 reared in combs that aiemore than 'g inch wide. 

 The logical deduction from all this is, that when the 

 frames are si)aced at such a width apart that the 

 comb can be built out to a greater than the regular 

 width such combs will be used for storage, and, as 

 a consequence, the sections will not be occupied for 

 that purpose, while any room therefore remains in 

 the brood-chamber. It also follows, that if the comb 

 Is spaced only a bee-space apart, it will not likely be 

 used for storage, but will bo used for brood. These 

 propositions were so self-evidently true to myself, 

 that I have given the matter a fair test during the 

 last three years, and these predicated results fol- 

 lowed in every instance. 



I tried reversing-combs; and while I found them 

 fairly successful, I also found that it required too 

 much time and labor, and that closer watching was 

 required than I was able to give. I then adopted 

 the plan of forcing each colony to full size as early 

 as possible; and on the near approach of the honey 

 season I exti-acted the combs in brood-chamber and 

 shaved them down to exactly '« inch in width; 

 then I replaced the frames in the brood-chamber 

 just a bee-space apart, using dummies with which to 

 fill empty space. By this plan I have found the 

 brood-chamber was used for brood alone in the ear- 

 ly season, and that the bee^ would occupy the sec- 

 tions as soon as they were placed upon the frames; 

 this I found, also, was a labor-saving oi)eration, and 

 a great saving in time also. I am aware that the 

 theory of thereversionists is, that all surplus should 

 be forced into sections, and the winter stores sup- 

 plied by feeding. This is theory to a great extent, 

 and as yet requires verification by actual tests, not 

 by one or two in their own localities, but by the 

 masses generally throughout the whole country. 

 With my method, by removing a frame or two at the 

 close of the honey season, and Avidening the spaces 

 between those remaining, the same state of things 

 will, of course, result. The method above indicated 

 is not only practicable and practical theoretically, 

 but has been tested, as I have indicated, to an ex- 

 tent sufficient to positively assure me that it is 

 worthy of being tested on a large scale. I do not 

 advise any great or expensive changes, and in order 

 to try this plan none such are required; for while I 

 myself use the L. hive, my method can be used with 

 any other that contains frames 's inch wide, and 

 no expense whatever need be made in adopting it. 

 Whether or not this method may lie deemed jjracti- 

 cable by others, I am so well pleased with it that I 

 shall continue its use in working for comb honey, 

 knowing that equally good results can be obtained 

 by so doing as by reversing either frames or hives, 

 and with less trouble and expense. 



Foxboro, Mass., April, 1886. J. E. Pond, .1r. 



Friend P., while your plan may not have 

 been followed up exactly as you have it, it 

 has been touched upon from time to time 

 during past years. Where you move the 

 combs up to only a bee-space apart, it is nec- 



essary that they should be very Hat and 

 straight, or bees will be imprisoned in their 

 cells, or the cells will be closed up so that 

 even the nurse-bees have no access. On this 

 account I would keep the combs occupying 

 the same relative places to each other as 

 much as possible when working in that way. 



BEES IN TEXAS 



That Build Their Nests to Limbs of Trees, in 

 the Form of a Sphere. 



DO BLACKS AND HYBRIDS EVER, BUILD THEIR 

 COMBS TO LIMBS OF TREES LIKE A HORNET'S 



NEST? 



1^ N page 829. Dec. 1, 1885, Mr. McCamant recites 

 4 tI 'I" incident i-elated by Rev. F. B. Ticknor, of 

 l^!| finding in Western Texas a colony of bees 

 ^^ styled "Mexican bees." Had the Kev. Mr. 

 Ticknor carefully investigated those bees, I 

 think he would have found them to have been onlj' 

 common blacks or hybrids, or stray Italian bees. 

 I found a colonj- of common black bees last year, 

 clustered on the end of a broken limb, about 30 feet 

 high. The comb, as Mr. T. says, was somewhat 

 shaped, or resembles, a hornet's nest. Fii-st a 

 central straight comb about 14 inches long by 13 

 wide under the limb, which was about two inches 

 in diameter; two others, one on either side, about 

 13 long by 10 inches wide, attached to the limb, arch- 

 ing outward, and held in position by a comb-brace 

 about SU inches long by I'i thick, the cell walls be- 

 ing fully i'our times as thick as the ordinary comb- 

 cells were; the partition wall of this comb-brace 

 was about ^a inch thick. Tlien on either side were 

 two more pairs of arched combs with braces as 

 above described, the first pair being about 9 inches 

 long by 8 wide; the last pair was about B'j inches 

 long by i wide. They were all arched over and at- 

 tached to their fellows nearly their whole length. 

 The free edges indicated that they had been started 

 at the comb-brace, and had been arched over for 

 additional support. There were no cells on the 

 arched part of the combs above until they became 

 about vertical, and then but very shallow cells on 

 the outside of the two smaller combs. Under the 

 arch, however, the cells were complete over the en- 

 tire combs. Tiie brood-nest was below the comb- 

 brace, and occupied most of the lower pai't of the 

 three central combs. The inside of the fourth and 

 fifth combs, except about an inch at the bottom of 

 all the combs, was filled with honej', the combs all 

 tapei'cd to a thin edge at the bottom and the free 

 extremities. Tiie whole mass could very easily be 

 imagined to resemble a hornet's nest. 



Did the bees i-eason, so to speak, that the arching 

 combs would protect the brood and cluster from 

 rain'? or did they arch the combs over to get addi- 

 tional support'!* I think the latter at least the 

 main reason for arching over. I have Seen bees 

 clustered, and combs built on limbs, in Indiana; 

 but I never saw such swarms build combs in a glob- 

 ular form there. There is nothing in the above but 

 what obtains where bees build natural combs in a 

 hive, except the arching and comb-braces. The 

 comb-brace was evidently built heavy to prevent 

 the comb from encroaching on its fellow, and was 

 necessary as a starter for tlie next coml). The 

 globular form of the comb might load to the belief 



